2nd Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge Day 1

Today is the first day of the 2nd Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge.  By Sunday afternoon, I had all my flats washed folded and prepared for the first day's use.

Rain is predicted until at least Wednesday this week, which means I will be washing the flats every night to make sure they are dry when I need them again.

My first change went easier than expected.  I am using the diaper bag fold which I have never used before.  Last year I was using the origami fold exclusively.  My daughter was only  5 months old and it worked for us.  Now that she is 17 months old and very active, I am hoping the diaper bag fold is resilient.

We spent the afternoon having lunch with friends.  Hindsight, it probably wasn't the best way to start the first day of the flats challenge using a new fold.  I was not able to devote 100% of my attention to my daughter's bathroom cues because I was busy socializing, trying to eat lunch and playing referee with my daughter and all the unlocked cabinets, exposed outlets and sharp corners in the baby-less house.  As a result, my poor girl wet through two pairs of pants, 3 flats, and her only cover. In less then two hours, I should add.  I didn't have another change of clothes with me and I only brought one cover (STUPID).  I had the choice of either packing up and leaving in the middle of lunch with a bottomless child, or staying (and not being rude in my opinion-  my friend put a lot of thought and time into preparing food for us to just up and leave on her) and putting my daughter in a disposable, my "emergency only" diaper kept at the very bottom of my diaper bag.

I could sense my friend, with well intensions in mind, sigh in relief when she saw the disposable on my pant-less child.  I, on the other hand, was sighing in resignation and defeat that I was unable to hold it together for the first 24 hours of the challenge.

Tomorrow is another day and I will learn from today's mistakes.  I will double up the flats and lay a pad folded flat inside the diaper bag flat.  I will also make a soaker out of an old wool sweater I've been staring at for weeks. I will also try and listen to my daughter's bathroom cues.  Finally, I will be bringing a back up cover in the likely event that this happens again.